The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning) May 17, 2025.
Part 2: Preparation to Convention - Connecting to There is None Else Besides Him
Lesson 4: There is None Else Besides Him in the Ten
Reader: Hello, we are in a lesson, Preparation towards the World Kabbalah Congress, Connecting to There is None Else Besides Him, happening next week, end of May 2025. We are in preparation for lesson number 4, None Else Besides Him, in the Ten. Again, lesson number 4, There is None Else Besides Him in the Ten, in the World Kabbalah Convention, Connecting to There is None Else Besides Him.
Reading: (00:45) 1. RABASH, Article No. 19 (1990), “Why Is the Torah Called “Middle Line” in the Work? - 2”
One should believe that “There is None Else Besides Him,” that the Creator does everything. In other words, as Baal HaSulam said, before each action one should say that man was given only choice, since “If I am not for me, who is for me?” Thus, everything depends on one’s choice. However, after the fact, one should say that everything is private Providence, and that one does nothing on his own.
We should interpret this as the Ari writes (Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 13, Item 152), “There is the matter of Se’arot [hairs], which cover the light, so they do not enjoy the light as long as they are unworthy, since they might blemish.” The thing is that we must believe that the Creator gave us a desire and yearning to do good deeds. And as long as one is unworthy, he must not feel that the Creator compels him to do good deeds. This is why the Creator hides Himself in dresses, and this dressing is called Lo Lishma [not for Her sake]. In other words, sometimes the Creator hides Himself in a clothing of friends.
For example, there is a situation where a person does not want to get up and learn before dawn. So the Creator hides Himself in a dressing of friends and he gets out of bed, even though he is tired, since a thought came to his mind that it is not nice to the friends that they all come to learn, and he is not, since then everyone will look at his lowliness. Hence, he gets up and goes to the seminary and learns. It follows that he does not have the energy to get out of bed because of the commandment of the Creator, so the Creator does not force him to go to the seminary, since if this were the reason, he would be lying in bed. But the friends do obligate him.
And similar to this example are all other things when a person acts Lo Lishma. Although there are many degrees in Lo Lishma, we will speak of this example. Here we should look at the person who is going to learn and to observe Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] not because the Creator commits him. In other words, if it were because of the commandment of the Creator, he would not have the strength to overcome the body and to compel it to do good deeds. However, because of people, he does have the strength to do good deeds. Thus we see what importance there can be in the Lo Lishma.
Yet, one must believe as was said above, that “There is None Else Besides Him,” meaning that it is the Creator who compels him to do the good deeds, but since he is still unworthy of knowing that it is the Creator who commits him, the Creator dresses Himself in dresses of flesh and blood, through which the Creator performs these actions. Thus, the Creator acts in the form of Achoraim [posterior].
In other words, the person sees people’s faces but he should believe that behind the faces stands the Creator and performs these actions. That is, behind the man stands the Creator and compels him to do the deeds that the Creator wants. It follows that the Creator does everything, but the person regards what he sees and not what he should believe. For this reason, a person says that he is doing the deeds Lo Lishma, as with the example of the friends who commit him.
Also, it does not have to be friends. Rather, everyone has his own external clothing, which suits him. Hence, when, for instance, one comes to the synagogue because the friends committed him to come, he says, “The Creator was the reason that he went to learn, but the Creator only dressed in a clothing of friends.” Thus, now he thanks the Creator for being the reason.
It follows that when a person did the deed Lo Lishma, when the Creator was not the reason that compelled him to perform the Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot], but he acted because, for instance, the friends ordered him and he had to obey, one must believe that he did this because the Creator commanded him to observe the Mitzva, and he had to obey what the Creator commanded him to do. However, the Creator hid Himself in a clothing of Lo Lishma, such as the friends, so that through this clothing he would think that he must obey the voice of Lo Lishma.
But in truth, one must believe that it was all the Creator’s doing. Thus, after he performs the Mitzva, he should say that it was the Creator who acted behind the clothing of Lo Lishma. It follows that then one should thank the Creator for giving him the desire to observe His commandments through this clothing.
With the above said we can understand the great importance of Lo Lishma. That is, it is not as one thinks—that he does everything for the Lo Lishma. Rather, he is doing everything because the Creator commanded him, except he was still not rewarded with feeling that the Creator is actually the commander. For this reason, a person thinks that the Lo Lishma is the commander, and hence the act is not so important in his eyes.
However, if he believes that “There is None Else Besides Him,” as was written in previous articles in this portion, then in truth, he is observing the commandments of the Creator, and he should appreciate his actions in Lo Lishma. And one’s imagination that he is only observing an act in Lo Lishma is only because he was not rewarded yet with feeling that he is observing the King’s commandment and that he is serving the King.
Hence, if he believes that the Lo Lishma is truly the Creator committing him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot, then he can give thanks to the Creator for dressing in a clothing of Lo Lishma. And from this, one can come to appreciate the importance of Torah and Mitzvot even Lo Lishma. Our sages said about this: “And they collect from a person knowingly,” meaning Lishma, and “Unknowingly,” meaning Lo Lishma.
This is the meaning of what is written, that the Se’arot [hairs], meaning the Lo Lishma, cover the light, so they will not be fed by the light as long as they are unfit for it. In other words, the Se’arot are a clothing, and under that clothing, the light stands and shines. But in the meantime, the light is covered.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (12:08) It's not so clear how it is possible to exist in such a reality without those covers, because seemingly the covers give you work to search behind, to believe that there's a Creator behind them, and if there's already Lishma, as if without the covers, then what kind of work is there? Where's the created being in the process?
M. Laitman: There is a room for that question.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (12:54) What does it mean to be worthy of doing good deeds?
M. Laitman: I guess, you're someone who's close to doing in order to bestow. And yet, something stops him, doesn't let him approach the action.
Student: He writes here, one who is not worthy is not given the desire. So, how do we work in the Ten to let the Creator give us the desire and passion? How do we get there better and better?
M. Laitman: There are two things here.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (16:33) What does the discernment that the friends obligate you or the Creator obligate you, what does that give the person?
M. Laitman: He chooses, perhaps, relative to whom he wish to subjugate himself.
Student: What's the difference if he surrenders to the friends? It says he's already on the right track to the Creator, no?
M. Laitman: No, it's possible he's not linking these two reasons together.
Student: So, how does he connect both reasons together?
M. Laitman: Perhaps, he starts to investigate, where does he get the impulse to be incorporated with the friends? He wants to be certain that behind the friends the Creator is hiding.
Student: If there's an urge to reach a connection with the friends, then it's certainly from the Creator, right? Or if there's an urge from the friends, basically it's unclear where a person needs to position himself in this scrutiny.
M. Laitman: We need to keep scrutinizing this.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (18:55) In this transition from Lo Lishma to Lishma, he says he identifies in Lo Lishma that he's actually working for the friends, because the friends commanded him how to replace this great force of working for the friends who obligate him to come, be on time, do the things, to a force that is more amorphous, it's unseen, not present. We need to replace him with a strong force. He has a strong force in his hands, he wants to advance, but he doesn't find where to bring the additional force.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (20:00) Probably the Creator works behind every state, every friend, every thought, every action. The Creator works behind everything. So, what's left for my role as a human being, he also works operating me, every action I do, every thought I have, not just them, it's me too. So what's my participation here, where does it happen?
M. Laitman: Your participation in this comes to recognize each thought, each action in the thought, in the desire, The Creator is one who does it, who offers it, who accepts it, it's all the Creator.
Student: And this is called spiritual attainment?
M. Laitman: Relatively speaking.
Student: What should a person attain, that he's completely operated?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Now, the topic of the lesson is, none else besides him in the Ten. What's the force of none else besides him in the Ten, between ten friends?
M. Laitman: In the Ten, it's already prepared for us, where if a person attains his connection with the friends, then it always turns out that the force he receives is the force of the Ten, and he can relate to this like to the only force there is.
Student: Are there any other ways to attain There’s None Else Besides Him, besides thru Ten?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: So, what's the difference between revelation of the Creator in the Ten and in the whole of reality?
M. Laitman: He can't, it's only in the Ten, where a person can, is able to connect all of his questions into one single question, connect all of his thoughts into a single thought, it turns out that he reaches the one.
Student: A person attains none else besides him inside the Ten, and as he develops, what's changing, what's added, if everything's in the Ten?
M. Laitman: What develops is the reason. If a person aims himself correctly, he then discovers that force which works on him from There’s None Else Besides Him.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (25:02) In order to get feedback of importance from my action, I need to envision that I'm working towards the friends or the Creator?
M. Laitman: You need to try and act toward the Creator.
Student: How does There’s None Else Besides Him not corrupt the cleanliness of working towards the friends?
M. Laitman: There’s None Else Besides Him, becomes clear to us, punctuated, highlighted, when through these conditions we reveal Him.
Student: Yes, but we have to acquire vessels of clean bestowal without any reward. For ourselves. Now, if I depict There’s None Else Besides Him, as I face the friends, it ruins the cleanliness of the action. I have an interest in that, I have some reward, whatever I do. If I neutralize There’s None Else Besides Him, I want to make a clean action towards the friend or the Ten. And also then on the other hand, I have no importance. If I work towards the friends, I don't get a feeling of importance. On the contrary, I feel heaviness, I feel... So it's unclear what to do.
M. Laitman: Hmm. Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (28:21) When he writes that the Creator hides himself in a clothing of friends, what does it mean?
M. Laitman: That through the right connection with the friends, you can attain the Creator.
Student: The relation to the friends should be as if they're the Creator for you? How do you relate to the friends?
M. Laitman: As if in total, the attitude of the Creator towards you will become clear to you from your connection with the friends.
Student: Why specifically the Creator hides Himself in the friends towards the person?
M. Laitman: This is what he did. This condition, this state.
Student: Is there something in the friends that isn't the Creator?
M. Laitman: There are many reasons, outcomes, that don't aim a person towards the Creator.
Student: So how, from the relations with the friends, how do you identify specifically the Creator behind them?
M. Laitman: I think that our attitude in general, between us, among ourselves, has to reveal to us the upper force - one, unique, unified.
Student: What do we need to emphasize so that our connection will make a shape where the Creator can be dressed? How do we make a place for the Creator to dress into through our connection?
M. Laitman: By searching for that particular form of connection between us that fits There’s None Else Besides Him.
Student: The Creator is already present between us and what we're lacking is just to identified, or that in our connection, we make Him present?
M. Laitman: We make Him be present.
Student: So what does it mean when he says the Creator hides himself in a clothing of friends? If we make Him present, then what does it mean that the Creator hides Himself in a clothing of friends?
M. Laitman: I can't concentrate enough to answer.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (33:18) When a student understands somewhat that the advice choose the good is clothed or hidden in the friends, in the instructions, in the friend, in the books. And it's an opportunity for gratitude. What does gratitude testify to or awaken in the next degree towards the one who is grateful?
M. Laitman: Through it, through this gratitude, a person can point to his willingness to reach There’s None Else Besides Him.
Student: In relation to gratitude, should the person thank his announced to his friends the gratitude? Or as we say in the language of the study, should we restrict or conceal this gratitude toward them? In an open way.
M. Laitman: I think a person needs to understand that to be in gratitude is a great thing.
Student: And to give an example in that he announces to his friends, really through this daily work, that he has gratitude for this and for that.
M. Laitman: Perhaps, yes.
Student: Maybe especially now because of the focus on our preparation to the Convention, we see that if we seemingly look backward, we see that all the calculations other than a few specific points in life, they're all for self-benefit alone. That you could call that evil. That I'm completely evil. What do we do with that awareness? What is that correct attitude other than gratitude to the Creator and asking for help to exit that, or to exit that pit? What do we do with that in which you look backward and things that you thought that you did good for others, that it was just this aggressive, lowly, despicable calculation for self-benefit alone?
M. Laitman: The fact they show a person a certain point of truth that advances him on the path, that in itself is already a reward. And what he has to do is to take upon himself this adhesion to that point. And we can use it to come to the goal.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:07) In relation to submission, what does it mean to submit myself to the Creator?
M. Laitman: When the Creator, when I take Him into consideration, when I consider Him as the only reason for everything I have, everything I have in my reality.
Student: Submission before the Ten. Advances made to submission before the Creator?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: How?
M. Laitman: When I am gradually on this path from state to state, see how much I surrender before the friends, before that Ten, or toward that force that is standing behind them and is managing everything.
Student: So, what do I submit toward the friends and toward the force that is behind them?
M. Laitman: Typically, my own personal opinion or reason.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:57) Earlier answered the friend that I seek what form of connection between us is suitable to There is None Else Besides Him. Can you explain that?
M. Laitman: We need to come to a form of connection which matches completely the upper force of There is None Else Besides Him. We should be aimed at that at all times.
Student: So, are there forms of connection between us that are not suitable for There’s None Else Besides Him and those that are?
M. Laitman: I guess there are.
Student: Does it depend on each person's perception of reality or does it depend on this common work between us? What does it depend on?
M. Laitman: It depends on this mutual work.
Student: Let's say, now we are before the convention, which is an event which focuses all the forces, and at the convention we want to reveal behind us, behind the friends, behind the whole of reality, There’s None Else Besides Him.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So what should we do in order to reveal that correct form?
M. Laitman: To try and explore all the options of connection between us and find what fits, what's suitable for the purpose of creation.
Student: Is there an example or a direction for a correct form, for a correct connection?
M. Laitman: We have to look for it.
Student: Everyone wanting to bestow to each other, is that correct or is something in that incorrect? What should the tendency be?
M. Laitman: The tendency should be such that in the connection between us there is such a possibility that we haven't yet discovered.
Student: Meaning that we really want that in connection there will be There is None Else Besides Him.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: That is the tendency that needs to be in place.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:31) I heard earlier that we need to take all the thoughts to one thought. What is that one thought that is really suitable for the form of the Creator, for what we need to reveal between us? The Creator isn't just concealed behind each and every friend. We take the thought of each and every friend between us, and we need to connect that into one thought. So what do I need to direct myself at, at every moment, in that one thought, so that there is where I reveal, where is that force between us?
M. Laitman: I don't quite understand the question.
Student: I have a Ten. Through the Ten, I absorb, receive what the Creator wants through every friend in my connection with the friends, what He says through them, etc. I want to connect all of those thoughts into one thought. So, what is that one thought that I need to direct myself at through the friends?
M. Laitman: Adhesion in the Creator.
Student: What does it mean, adhesion with the Creator? What is that adhesion? What do I need increasingly, time and again, to discover there, to direct myself at? What do I want to reveal there?
M. Laitman: You need to reveal there the force, the force you wish to be adhered to.
Student: So that's the question I asked earlier. What is that force that I need to reveal there? What is that force, Rav?
M. Laitman: That force is There’s None Else Besides Him.
Student: Is it a force of love, a force of bestowal that we're always talking about? Is that what we need to discover between us all the time, more and more?
M. Laitman: Not all the time, but all the time to constantly be aimed at it.
Student: And that can only be in annulment, one toward another.
M. Laitman: It can be.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:20) Contact with the Creator, is that something personal?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And the Ten, where is it in relation to a person's personal contact with the Creator?
M. Laitman: The Ten is a kind of instrument through which a person enters into the connection with the Creator.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:27) The beginning of the second excerpt, the beginning of the second paragraph, he speaks about the Se'arot, [the hairs]. I could read it, but it would be better from your point of view.
Reader: We should interpret this as the Ari writes, that there is the matter of Se'arot, hairs, which cover the light. So they do not enjoy the light as long as they are unworthy, since they might blemish.
Student: What are Se'arot, and how can we invert to be like the gates in the pleasure in the thought of creation?
M. Laitman: Se'arot, are on the one hand a form of concealment, and on the other hand, advance a person toward the correct revelation.
Student: How can we invert them to become gates?
M. Laitman: Yes. It happens when a person investigates them, explores them, and then reaches their internality.
Student: Explore? How can we explore them?
M. Laitman: To explore, this is part of our work. When I connect, according to the questions that arise in me, and then, that's how I understand and feel, then I'm getting closer to the revelation of the hairs.
Student: How can we prepare our questions, our deficiencies, to be one deficiency in relation toward the convention, where it will be possible to receive a revelation upon a correct desire?
M. Laitman: We need to try and connect and feel what this connection gives birth to.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:30) We're already speaking about the Congress, another small point that we're now going. In the Ten, Erez here is going to be in Kazakhstan. A friend is going to be in Hungary, I'm going to be in Pennsylvania, other friends are going to be here. And we're one Ten, and we're going to be dispersed in all kinds of places around the world. When we say that we're going to reveal There is None Else Besides Him in the Ten, is that in the heart in the original Ten, or is it that we are going to meet the friends in the same quality, in the same nature, in the same desire, in the different places that we're going to?
M. Laitman: This depends on the person. A person who is adhered to his group, to his Ten, or to a bigger part of everything. It's up to a person. He has to feel where does it come from, what force is taking care of him. And then, in this way, he advances toward attainment.
Student: From what he gets more inspiration from, or some kind of nature of more loyalty to the Ten, or according to what does he choose?
M. Laitman: According to his nature.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:02) I hear that contact with the Creator is personal. The Ten is an instrument for revelation that helps me reach a contact with the Creator. Now we have a convention with thousands of attendees all around the world. It's going to be spread all around the globe. My question is, how do we use this spiritual state? Because otherwise I can just be alone with my Ten and reach the same attainment. So, what is this addition of the Congress in this situation?
M. Laitman: The addition of the Congress is the connection between all these groups. And from within this connection we need to attain much more.
Student: What does the connection give with everyone upon the connection with the Ten? As opposed to the connection with the Ten.
M. Laitman: It gives you power. Connection with the Ten is connection, but it's possible that it's still a very small connection. And the connection that's outside of the Ten, it can be a very strong connection.
Student: How is the, in the Ten, it seems like there is something lacking in the Ten, that there is something in the Ten, like lacking power, can we not receive that power in the Ten?
M. Laitman: Impossible or possible depends on the work in the Ten.
Student: In an individual Ten, is it possible to reveal There is None Else Besides Him?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, what does that Ten need other Tens for?
M. Laitman: In order to reach There is None Else Besides Him.
Student: But it can reach There is None Else Besides Him in and of itself?
M. Laitman: Theoretically, yes.
Student: Practically?
M. Laitman: Practically, no. I don't think that today you have such Tens that can point to themselves and say that they are capable of doing it.
Student: So at the convention, what is the correct work? What needs to be the correct work of a Ten, of a group, of a Kli? How can we correctly use that very great connection?
M. Laitman: The important thing is participation, connection out of an embrace. This has to be something extremely serious.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:51) This entire reality was built such that we help each other reveal this collective soul of Adam that shattered, whether it's in the Ten, or in congresses, or in all these connections. And we are in this for many years. I want to ask, what is attainment? If we're sitting nicely like this, connected, like right now, I'm so focused, I'm alert, I'm absorbing every single word of yours, I'm completely aimed at the Creator. So, what are these additions, these pleasant additions of congresses, meals, these special moments where we have something? What is that addition where I don't just get fulfilled with this? There is None Else Besides Him, it's great, but what's that addition of?
M. Laitman: The addition in the vessel. In the vessel.
Student: If I depict to myself the end of correction, I'm completely connected and directed clearly to the Creator. There is no difference between us. So we'll have that now in the meal. It's happening now in the lesson. And then at the congress, it's even more powerful. So what is that addition that's lacking? Because we will feel love and connection and pleasantness. What is the addition of the entire collective connection?
M. Laitman: The addition of the entire Kli, the entire vessel to the connection.
Student: What is the attack that you did at Sukkot with Rabash, and what is our attack in these special moments? There's a connection. What's the addition? What is that powerful world Kli? What does it give in that extra inTensity? What attainment are we expecting in this connection at the end of correction?
M. Laitman: We expect an attainment that's going to be common, mutual, common to everyone. There are certain conditions that are placed before us by the Creator. In that same sermon, it will appear to us and to him as something whole, complete. That is all.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:22) What do we want to attain?
M. Laitman: What we want to attain is, after all, the upper force that is present relative to us, sustaining us, building us, renewing us each and every moment. And we wish to, in our attainment, we wish to the revelation of this upper force.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:31) The Creator conceals himself behind the friends, only in order for us to become stronger in that he is the cause of everything? That the Creator is the cause of everything?
M. Laitman: The Creator maintains Himself behind the friends, because only when we have the right connection with the friends, we'll be able to reveal Him.
Student: Revealing Him is the intention that comes from Him?
M. Laitman: The way the friend interprets it.
Student: Meaning every intensity of connection that we have which becomes more upgraded, so we have this extra opportunity?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:03) In the thought of creation, you gave the answer that, in relation to the Creator, we don't reveal him, but his attitude, the attitude of the Creator to the created being. And I, on my behalf, need to be in the question of, what does the upper one lack? Which is, for me, it's the expansion of the vessels. So my question is, what does the upper one lack? That's in relation to the recorded article, and now what we read, Rabash gave the answer. But the truth is that the person needs to believe that the Creator did everything. And after he did the Mitzvah, he needs to say that the Creator acted behind the dressing of Lo Lishma. And then it turns out that the person needs to give thanks to the Creator, and that the Creator gave him this desire to do his Mitzvot through the dressings. So it means that there's this process that we need to reach There’s None Else Besides Him, and there is exertion, which is called faith, faith above reason, where that faith we also receive from Him. But each time we need to add exertion. Where is the Ten in bestowing to the friends? What does the upper one lack? So that we'll be in bestowal and love. And that begins from as if, as Rabash many times says, but that already means that we need to be like the Creator. So that's the question that I took from all of these articles.
M. Laitman: Okay.